Major Changes To Complexion Of Whelen Modified Tour Championship Chase After Saturday In New Hampshire

LOUDON, N.H. - Bad days for Bobby Santos III and Ted Christopher Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway allowed seven-time series champion Mike Stefanik to move to second place in the Whelen Modified Tour points standings, two points behind Santos, with two events remaining in the season.

Santos, of Franklin, Mass., came into Saturday's F.W. Webb 100 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway as the points leader with Christopher, of Plainville, in second place, 32 points behind. Stefanik came into the day in third place in the standings, 61 points behind Santos.

Christopher's day at NHMS ended on lap 38 when he got caught up in a multi-car wreck in turn four.

Santos was battling Ryan Preece for fifth place on lap 97 when the two ended up in the wall after Preece slid up the track.

"Trying hard to race everybody clean, but I guess I got no respect out there," Santos said.

Said Preece: "We were racing real hard It's the last five laps and I kind of went in a little over my head and I got on the brakes hard and it skated the front up into Bobby and we wheel-hopped. I hate it for them guys, I hate it for my guys and I know the point lead just got tightened up real big now because I know [Ted Christopher] was out of it. Sorry to them guy but we're racing for the win. If I could go back and do it again I wouldn't have dove in, I maybe would have waited a lap."

Stefanik, of Coventry, R.I., ended up third behind race winner and Sprint Cup Series regular Ryan Newman and second place Jimmy Blewett.

Santos now has 1,840 points going into the CarQuest Fall Final at Stafford Motor Speedway on Oct. 3. Stefanik has 1,838 points and Christopher is now 65 points behind with 1,775 points.

Santos is in his first full-time season in the Whelen Modified Tour, running for car owner Bob Garbarino of Mystic. Christopher won the Whelen Modified Tour title in 2008.

Stefanik, the division's all-time winningest driver, won his first tour title in 1989 and last won the title in 2006. He has finished seventh in the series standings the last three seasons.

"[Bobby Santos III] and [Ted Christopher] had been really stellar all year and both of them cars have visited victory lane [three times each]," Stefanik said. "We're still looking for that first win. We really picked our program up though. Our team has been extremely dedicated to this program and been making small adjustments. Our car's been really good. We had a great race at Bristol Motor Speedway [finishing second to Newman], now to come up here and get a third. We're showing that we're back in the game. We still want that win. If we were to finish this off with a championship and no wins, that seems a little hollow to me."

The final event of the season is the Sunoco World Series of Speedway Racing on 17 at Thompson International Speedway.

7 Comments

I was at the race today and the restart order on a few restarts were really strange. Christopher was in 5th, restarted 7th, after a wreck. Then the whole inside lane was sent back a 2 spots, from Newman back(after a wreck on the restart). That put Flemke and Blewett in spots they problably didn't earn. And what ensued ruined the race, for me. Where they using the last completed lap, or using the cup style scoring system? Either way it seems like they did what they wanted to, when they wanted to. Overall, a boring race for the Tour at NHMS...

I agree with Kayman. From my view TC and a few others got screwed over on that deal. TC was running 7th on the restart and then they wrecked coming to the green so that lap should have reverted back to the previous lap complete for scoring. Then they started moving car all over the place and on the next Restart TC and others were all stuck behind the junk that wrecked. Poor Job on the Nascar Scoring and Tour Officals.

I agree with Kayman -- I didn't understand why on 2 consecutive restarts Teddy was suddenly behind cars that he had clearly passed. Then Blewett did another idiotic move that wrecked cars & ruined TC's championship chances. It was a pretty boring race for the Mods -- I was expecting more. Sorry to see TC's championship run ruined through no fault of his own.

Agreed, the restarts/line up confused me as well - what was especially concerning was the no call by race officials (Chad?) regarding Blewett's over aggressiveness that cost a couple cars chances at top 5 finishes.. Flemke was strong and Christopher was on his way to the front.. Jimmy caused one hell of a mess and went on the podium..

As far as the race being boring – I have to disagree there. Sure there wasn’t as many lead changes as in past races, but there was plenty of excitement throughout the race – you want to talk about boring, that Truck race blew.. aside from Harvick and Busch.. that field was so stretched out it quickly turned into a yawner.. The last 10 laps aside which is a whole nother’ story – that truck race just turned into what has become typical NASCAR (I did what I had to do) racing; the last guy who can shove the leader out of the way wins.. WOW.. that’s racing huh? I think it sucks.

I was refering to a Modified tour race at New Hampshire being boring for a tour race there. If you look at it for what it was, the anticipation was the excitement. The battle for the lead at the end. Someone that could dethrone the invader(Newman). Newman, Szegedy, and Christopher going at it on lap#99. Unfortunately it was basically a Thompson race{stay on the outside and if you are feeling racey divebomb into the turns to pass). And there weren't many that made the pass stick. As far as the trucks, I left back for Connecticut at the 30 lap mark. The ACT race would have been interesting, but the fact is I would have fallen asleep during the truck race. The battle for the lead was good, but that was it. Heard it on MRN. All fendered racing there is junk. The only race I go there for is the Mods, and the IRL next year.

I was at the Mod race at Loudon, and it wasn't that bad. There have been some races that were nothing more than a freight train, and about as boring. This one wasn't too bad. I don't think anything will ever be as exciting as the Loudon race this past Spring, so don't use that as a benchmark. That was an exceptional race.

I don't share the pity for TC, after all the debris fields he caused over the years. I'm not glad it happened either.

Too bad that the #3 and #4 tangled, they were good cars with good reps, and would have made moves to the front.

ABOUT

On August 18, 1995 Shawn Courchesne attended his first short track racing event, filling in on coverage for a Friday night show at Stafford Motor Speedway for the Hartford Courant. Little did he realize that night ... read more